Beaches
Where the vines meet the sea!
The influence of beach culture plays out in the lifestyle of the region, with seafood, sun and surf underpinning the more formal wine industry which underpins the McLaren Vale experience.
With Australia's first nude beach, Maslins, driving beaches such as Sellicks and Moana, and sand and water swept clean by the current running through the gulf between Kangaroo Island and the peninsula, a great number of beach options are presented to the visitor.
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CHRISTIES BEACH is a great family swimming beach with a boat launching facility accessing nearby fishing grounds. A foreshore reserve offers picnic facilities and the Beach Road shopping strip offers most services. It is a popular year-round holiday destination, and is home to South Australia's annual Celtic Festival. The Original Open Market is held in the Beach Road Reserve on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of every month.
Noarlunga is a suburb in the City of Onkaparinga, South Australia. It is a small sea-side suburb, originally created as a sea port.
There is a jetty that leads nearly all the way to one of South Australia's few natural reefs. The beach is large and very long and has reasonable surfing in the South Port area whose name is taken from its location - 'South of the Port',
Southport Beach is one of the surfing beaches on the mid-south coast. During the week many school students have aquatic lessons here. This is an ideal beach for learners as there are no rocky outcrops as is the case on some of the other mid-south beaches.
Moana Beach is characterised by a stand of Norfolk pines, low cliffs and the ability to take cars onto the beach. Many people spend their holidays at Moana in beach houses or caravans. The local Surf Life Saving Club conducts patrols of the beach. A ship called Nashwauk ran aground at Moana in 1855 and the anchor is now on display in the caravan park. The hull of the ship decayed over time and it?s now buried under sand, although one of its masts rests on the ocean floor about 50m off shore.
MASLIN BEACH achieved fame as Australia?s first proclaimed ?unclad? beach and hosts the ?Nude Olympics? in January each year. With its protected cove, high cliff face and long expanse of sand, Maslins? Beach is a popular bathing spot.
For those happy to keep their clothes on, the Northern end of the beach is fully clad, and has bbq facilties, public toilets and a kids playground.
The remains of the jetty are a reminder of the days when Port Willunga was a busy port for exporting wheat, slate and other commodities. The Star of Greece shipwreck becomes visible at low tide and is a popular diving and snorkelling site. The beach is soft sand, with cliffs and caves at its edge, making it a beautiful place to walk, swim and dive. Port Willunga has many aquatic species including the leafy sea dragon and is a popular holiday spot with accommodation available near the beach.
Aldinga Beach is wide, sandy, offers good swimming and has boat launching facilities. A boardwalk offers good coastal views.
The area is also a focus for diving and snorkelling with a unique Aquatic Reserve established in the waters 2 km off the beach to protect a rare reef formation.
Silver Sands is the beach north of Sellicks Beach and south of Aldinga Beach, close to the southern end of Aldinga Scrub Conservation Park.
Sellicks Beach is the southern most point in the City of Onkaparinga, and is part of long, sandy expanses that continues north towards Adelaide in a series of popular beaches. It has a ramp for accessibility to the beach and boat launching and car parking is permitted on the beach below the Esplanade.
Boat launching facilities are available and flathead, mullet, snapper, tommy ruff and whiting are caught regularly.
